DirectTV and all, good, bad and ugly

[Susie Hamilton]

I have Cox cable. I would like to know all about the other choices. I would like NFL and/or NHL channels. What are the good and bad of other choices. Weather, power outage and these thing are what I am looking at. Thanks.

[rjc]

I have had DISH Satellite since 2000, when we first got it I would lose the feed with every storm. Now, I rarely lose it due to storms, it has to be a really bad storm with real heavy cloud cover, I don't know how it works during snow storms. You get a lot of choices with satellite but be careful about the premium movie channels and the extra sports channels, that can increase your monthly fees. Overall I find that here in Florida cable is more expensive than the satellite. I have always had a small portable tv available for when we lose the satellite due to weather or power outages but when tv goes digital in February these won't work with power outages because you have to have the converter box which has to have power. I have been trying to see if any of the tv manufactors are going to haev a portable digital tv, so far I have not found any.

[pastorables]

I have had both Dish and Direct. We currently have Direct. Either satellite can go out in a hard wind/rain, but generally no serious problems with either. The difference I've noticed in favor of Dish would be that your Encore channels come with the best Dish package, whereas they would cost extra with Direct's best package. In favor of Direct, I would point to their equipment and technical which seems to be more advanced. These are just some thoughts. Take them for what they're worth.

I believe the NFL package and/or other all team sports packages runs an additional $300 broken into 4 monthly installments. You can get Sports Pack with Direct for about $9 extra monthly which includes the NFL channel and several nice sports channels. I have the Sports Pack myself.

pa